NASCAR on NBC (visually branded as NBC NASCAR in logos shown within on-air graphics and network promotions) is the branding used for broadcasts of NASCAR races that are produced by NBC Sports, and televised on several NBCUniversal-owned television networks, including the NBC broadcast network in the United States. The network originally aired races, typically during the second half of the season, from 1999 to 2006.

On July 23, 2013, NBC signed a new agreement with NASCAR to obtain the rights to races from the Sprint Cup Series, Xfinity Series, K&N Pro Series and Whelen Modified Tour seasons starting in 2015.[2] In addition, NBCUniversal also gained the rights to the NASCAR Toyota Series starting in 2014, airing on its Spanish-language networks Telemundo and mun2 channels initially for selected races, with NBC obtaining Spanish-language rights to all NASCAR series starting in 2015.

Original run (2001–2006)

Background

On November 11, 1999, NASCAR signed a five-year, US$2.48 billion contract which split the American television rights for NASCAR races between Fox, its cable partner FX, NBC and Turner Sports, running from the 2001 through 2006 racing seasons. Under the deal, Fox and FX would cover the first half of the season, while NBC and TBS covered races held during the second half. Shortly after the 2001 season began, and before the second half of the season began, on March 27, 2001, the Turner Broadcasting System decided to make TNT as the cable partner for its NASCAR coverage instead of TBS, citing that the races would fit better with the network's "We Know Drama" rebranding campaign.

Daytona 500 and Pepsi 400 coverage

In addition to dividing the season's races between the two networks and their cable partners, the 2001 television contract called for Fox and NBC to share broadcast rights for the races at Daytona International Speedway. In odd-numbered years, Fox would have the rights for the Daytona 500 with NBC televising the Pepsi 400. In even-numbered years, NBC would air the Daytona 500 while Fox received the Pepsi 400.

When the 2007 contract was signed, Fox gained the exclusive broadcast rights to the Daytona 500 for eight years, with TNT picking up rights to the now-Coke Zero 400.

The start time for the Daytona 500 had progressively moved later into the day. In 2001, the start time was 1:15 p.m. Eastern Time, and was shifted back to 12:45 p.m. Eastern in 2002 (to accommodate NBC's broadcast of the Winter Olympics); however in 2003, the start time was moved forward to 1:01 p.m. Eastern (it was originally scheduled to begin at 1:28 p.m. however NASCAR tried to start the race before rain approached the racetrack, which stopped the race prematurely). In 2004, the start time was 1:52 p.m., and the 2005 and 2006 races started at 2:45 p.m. while the 2007 race began at 3:30 p.m.

Regular segments

A segment featured during the telecasts was the "Aflac Trivia Question", in which Benny Parsons "cued the duck" followed by the Aflac Duck walking across the screen to serve as the toss to the trivia question. The "Golden Benny" segment, featured from 2001 to 2002 (which used Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets" as its theme), was an award selected by Parsons in which he gave a golden trophy to a team member in the NASCAR community for outstanding performance during the previous week's race.

During the broadcasts' opening sequence later in the run of the initial contract, a driver can be heard shouting over his radio, "Good job guys, good job." The audio for this clip was taken from Rusty Wallace after his win during the spring 2004 race at Martinsville Speedway.

Music

The Metallica song "Fuel" was used as the theme song for NBC and TNT's NASCAR broadcasts from mid-2001 to the 2003 season, and was also used for the 2004 Daytona 500 (which aired on NBC), with the song's instrumental backing used as background music and commercial bumpers. However, for part of the 2001 season, the opening scream used in the opening was removed because of its close association with terrorists in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The pre-release version of the song entitled "Fuel For Fire" (with different lyrics) was released as part of the NASCAR Full ThrottleCD.

Fan bias

Some fans reacted negatively to NBC's coverage, claiming that it was largely inferior to Fox in terms of both technological capabilities and bland commentators. Wally Dallenbach and Bill Weber were viewed as monotone and boring in their delivery, compared to Larry McReynolds and Darrell Waltrip. Statistically after its first season, Fox race telecasts had more viewers than those on NBC during 2001.

NBC was also criticized by fans for incorporating long commercial breaks during the race, much longer than the breaks that Fox would run during its race telecasts. Two glaring problems with the NBC coverage were that restarts were often missed due to these extended commercial breaks, that breaks during green flag runs were too frequent. Fans and media columnists used "Nothing But Commercials," as a jocular acronym for NBC's coverage. This cliché was mocked in the film Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, during a scene in which NBC is shown to take a quick commercial break during a race (with a commercial for Applebee's) when Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) and Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen) wreck their cars in a very long-lasting crash (NBC's team announcing team at the time of Weber, Dallenbach and Parsons had cameos during the scene covering the fictional race).

By 2004, however, NBC had made substantial improvements in regards to both technology and commentating. Although NASCAR and NBC ended their partnership after the 2006 season, many fans hoped that they could reunite in the next television contract in spite of problems with partners ESPN and TNT.

NASCAR leaves NBC

In mid-October 2005, NBC announced that it would not renew its end of the NASCAR contract after the 2006 season, largely because of its acquisition of the Sunday Night Football telecast from ESPN.

The restructured broadcast deal awarded Fox the rights to the Daytona 500 from 2007 until 2014. The contract also allowed ESPN and ABC to regain NASCAR rights, taking the second half of the season's races; meanwhile, TNT retained its broadcast rights and signed a contract to air six mid-season races. The ESPN family of networks became the exclusive home of the NASCAR Busch/Nationwide Series as part of the contract, replacing TNT, NBC, Fox and FX as broadcasters.

NASCAR returns to NBC

On July 23, 2013, NASCAR announced a nine-year contract with NBC Sports to broadcast the final 20 races of the Sprint Cup Series season (from the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway through the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead), the final 19 races of the Xfinity Series season, along with coverage of select regional series events and Mexico's Toyota Series, succeeding both former partner TNT, and ESPN. The deal also awarded NBC Sports the rights to provide coverage on digital platforms, rights to Spanish-language coverage for Telemundo and mun2 (now NBC Universo), broadcast rights to the NASCAR Hall of Fame induction ceremony and post-season awards banquets. Running from 2015 to 2024, NBC Sports took over the portion of the contract previously held by ESPN and Turner Sports. The majority of NBC's NASCAR coverage under the new contract will air on NBCSN, however selected events will be broadcast by the NBC broadcast network. While financial details were not disclosed, NBC reportedly paid 50% more than the $2.7 billion paid by ESPN and Turner combined under the previous contract.[2][3][4]

Former Turner Sports executive Jeff Behnke serves as vice president of NASCAR programming for NBC Sports.[5] On December 3, 2013, Jeff Burton was confirmed as the first member of the broadcast team.[6]

On December 4, 2013, Rick Allen, who previously worked at Fox Sports as an announcer for its Camping World Truck Series coverage, signed a multi-year contract to serve as the lead announcer for NBC's race broadcasts.[7] On January 9, 2014, it was confirmed that Steve Letarte would leave his role as Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s crew chief at Hendrick Motorsports and join NBC Sports as a color analyst.[8] Behnke explained that the on-air makeup of NBC Sports' broadcasts would have "a relevancy that hasn't been seen in a long, long time", citing the recent involvements of both Burton and Letarte in NASCAR prior to their move to broadcasting.[5]

Leigh Diffey, lead announcer for NBC's Formula 1 & IndyCar coverage, announced via Twitter he will be commentating some Xfinity races for NBC. According to the announcement, he will be lead play-by-play at six races in 2015 which fall on non-open wheel racing weekends.[9]